Dubai, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, has grown exponentially in just over three decades, which is a fascinatingly short amount of time as most cities take way longer than this to build as many developments as Dubai has.
The fast-growing city’s wealth can be traced to the beginning of those 31 years when riches were acquired and utilized to create the Dubai we see today.
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Dubai is known for its wealth
One of the main things the emirate is famous for is being a place of high wealth, which is well-acknowledged by those who have heard anything about the city.
The place has made a name for itself.
The riches can be seen in its institutions
The emirate is an exceptionally wealthy place where you can often find Dubai police driving Bugattis, Ferraris, Audis, and Lamborghinis while patrolling the streets on duty.
Dubai and its people are unashamedly rocking their lavish lifestyles.
Dubai has a history of pearls
The emirate was known for its pearls for as long as anyone can remember. The quality of the gemstones was even written about by a Venetian pearl trader in 1590.
The city was famous for its luxurious gemstones for a very long time.
The industry took off years later, though
Although it is well known that Dubai is where one can find a shiny pearl, the Gulf’s pearl industry only took off years later and peaked during World War One.
Eventually, though, it collapsed in the 1930s, and the last expedition was in 1949.
Oil was the next big thing
For just under two decades after the last pearling expedition in 1949, the UAE would go back to not having anything special about it until 1966, when oil changed everything.
Finding oil by Dubai’s coast would be transformative for the emirate and the country.
The oil money rolled in fast
Dubai now holds four billion barrels of oil in its reserves and makes a considerable amount of money from selling it.
The city used that money to turn itself into something unimaginably rich in only three decades.
Architecture and infrastructure were invested in
The emirate invested heavily in iconic architecture, such as the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa, and the now well-known artificial offshore residential island Palm Jumeirah.
The construction of both projects came in the early years of the 21st century.
Natural gas also entered the picture
The new architectural projects were set to be built under the rule of Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
While oil was more than enough to fund the city’s riches, in early 2020, one of the largest natural gas fields, ‘Jebel Ali,’ was also discovered.
The city only changed to a certain extent
While the oil and natural gas fields produced all the money a city could need to change its infrastructure, something in Dubai remained the same.
Today, a picture showing the changes in the same area over 31 years is shared on social media.
The picture shows an old building
The image shows a red and white Toyota sign that has been restored at the top of a building in Dubai. This sign is now iconic because it is proof of the drastic change in the area.
The building which carries this sign was constructed in 1974, only three years after the UAE was founded.
